Improved spool-case



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WILLIAM F.- FOSTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS..

Letters Patent No. 100,995, lated March 22, 1870.

The Schedulel referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. FOSTER, ot Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and improved Thread Spool-Gase; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

-exact description thereof', which will enable othersl proved case, to be used in stores and other places for `the exhibit-ion of samples of different-colored spooled threads, aud to contain a quantity of each sample exhibited; and to this end,

'It consists in a ease composed of wood or other suitable material, provided with a glass door'upon its front side, and containing a series of sliding drawers having a portion of-their front sides removed.

The drawers are each divided into several compartments by a series of partitions, and the spool ot' thread to be exhibited as a specimen of those contained in its particular division is placed at the front side of' the,

drawer and held in place by a strip or block placed behind it. By this means each division of every drawer will' contain at its front, in a fixed position, a sample of its contents, the color of which sample is at all times exposed to view, owing to the low front of the drawer. 4

In the accompanying drawings- A is the case, of about the form shown, composed of wood or other suitable material and open upon its front side. s

' B is the glass door, hinged to the case in such a manner as to close its front.

C 'G are a series of drawers adapted to slide in and out of thel case, as shown.l

Each drawer is divided into a number of compartments by the partitions D, for the reception of spools of cotton, silk, or other thread of different colors and sizes. l

The front E of each drawer is composed of a narnow strip, whose width is much less than the diameter of the spool, so that when a spool of thread is placed in the front of the drawer its color can readilybe seen without opening the drawer.

The front spools are prevented from displacement by blocks or strips F, placed behind them within the drawer, as shown.

B v this construction of drawers the sample spool in each division is always retained in its proper place, and indicates, before the drawer is opened, the color of thread the division contains. It i s also evident that the sample spools will remain in their proper divisions even after Iall the other spools have been removed.

I am aware that cases for spooled threads have heretofore been made with fixed' shelves and partitions, the shelves inclining toward the front to permit the spools in each division to roll flown to the front ot the case. This construction, however, I donot claim.

Itis, moreover, objectionable for thereason- First, that the sample spools are frequently taken out for examination andl not replaced in their. proper divisions. They do notthen represent the colors back of them.

Second, the spools are liable to and frequently do become caughtor clogged and'refuse to roll to the front; and

rlhird, if the descent is made sufiiciently steep to counteract the clogging, the spools are constantly rolling over the front of the stops placed at the. front ol' Witnesses:

C. A. HAnKNEss, l. D. O. SMXTH. 

